Oregon poised to make abortion free

Oregon taxpayers will soon be paying for abortion, contraceptives, and sterilization under a new law Gov. Kate Brown vowed to sign.

The Reproductive Health Equity Act, passed by legislators last week, forbids health insurance plans from imposing “a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement” for abortion, STD screening, prenatal care, post-natal care, and all forms of contraception.

Churches and religious nonprofits will be exempt from the law if they notify employees they don’t cover contraceptives or abortion. Their employees may turn to Oregon’s general fund, padded with more than $10 million, to cover contraceptives and abortion.

The bill also allocates $500,000 to cover abortions and contraceptives for illegal immigrants.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Brown’s office posted Thursday on Twitter after the Senate passed the bill 17-13.

Brown said she plans to sign the bill, since being able “to control our bodies and make informed decisions about health are critical to providing all Oregonians the opportunity to achieve our full potential and live productive, thriving lives.”

Oregon Right to Life executive director Gayle Atteberry called the bill “morally reprehensible” and warned the abortion rate probably will rise—especially high-cost, late-term abortions.

Atteberry said the bill “was politically calculated to ensure Planned Parenthood has funding in a time when they are at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government.”

Oregon has no restrictions on abortion, and pro-life Rep. Mike Nearman challenged the bill on the House floor: “We don’t need to do this. This is Oregon. There [are] no legal restrictions on anyone’s right to get an abortion. None. You can get an abortion at any time for any reason. Even sex-selection.”

While many states work to pass pro-life laws, abortion advocates are amping up retaliation efforts, Americans United for Life’s Denise Burke told me.

“Not only is the abortion industry encouraging legislative action, it is also increasingly filing court challenges to these commonsense and popularly supported [pro-life] laws,” Burke said. “Abortion advocates recognize that public opinion is turning against them and that another Supreme Court vacancy may be imminent. As a result, they are doing everything that they can to protect their radical, unapologetic, and unrestricted abortion-on-demand agenda.”

Delaware recently legalized abortion through all nine months, joining at least four other states that would permit abortion even if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

The Oregon bill’s sponsor, Rep. Julie Fahey, noted her goal for the bill was to follow those states’ examples, especially in anticipation of a possible Republican repeal of Obamacare.

Exhibitors work on laptops in front of an illuminated Google logo at an industrial fair in Hanover, Germany. Associated Press/Photo by Jens Meyer, File

Is Google censoring Operation Rescue?

Pro-life group Operation Rescue says Google is censoring it and blames the search engine for a dramatic drop in web page views.

The organization tracks abortion data and says views for one page in particular dropped from 37,111 in January to 1,512 in June.

It alleges page views for its site have grown steadily for years and appeared among Google’s top five results for searches like “abortions in the U.S.” and “abortion statistics.” Now those searches push Operation Rescue’s site well into the second page of results.

“Google’s censorship of our popular ‘Abortions in America’ page has revealed Google’s pro-abortion agenda that is determined to deprive the public from seeing the truth about abortion displayed in incontrovertible facts and statistics drawn from a number of sources, some of which are unique to OperationRescue.org,” Operation Rescue president Troy Newman said.

Google spokeswoman Kara Stockton blamed the change in rankings on the company’s computer systems: Every “site’s ranking in search results is determined by computer algorithms using hundreds of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.” —S.G.

Exhibitors work on laptops in front of an illuminated Google logo at an industrial fair in Hanover, Germany. Associated Press/Photo by Jens Meyer, File

Forced euthanasia in the Netherlands

Doctors in the Netherlands euthanized 431 people in 2015 who never requested to die, according to data from the country’s latest report.

The report, published once every five years, shows a continued upward trend in the total number of doctor-assisted deaths over the course of a decade.

In 2015, doctors helped 7,254 people die, and nearly 6 percent did not request it. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s Alex Schadenberg noted that even after legalization, “covert euthanasia continues to occur.”

The 2010 report showed 4,050 doctor-assisted deaths, 310 of which were not requested. The 2005 report showed 2,425 assisted deaths, with 550 deaths not requested. —S.G.

Pro-lifers rally in Ireland to support abortion ban

This year’s All Ireland Rally for Life drew at least 70,000 people, according to Life Site News. Organizers called this year’s rally in Dublin the country’s biggest pro-life demonstration ever. It featured pro-life speakers and highlighted the importance of preserving the Irish Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which protects the lives of unborn children. Ireland’s abortion laws have faced a series of recent legal challenges, and last month the U.K. agreed to pay for abortions for Northern Irish women. —S.G.